An optimized Viktor Hovland could be Europe’s secret weapon

Fire and ice

Hovland was somewhat doughy as a junior. It's hard to believe, because today he's a chiseled 5 feet, 10 inches, and his powerful lower body brings to mind an NHL hockey player.

'I've been trying to get stronger for a year,' he told PGATOUR.com. 'I think the lower body is just more genetic; you know, my mom is from Russia, so I've got some Russian genes in there. We're not like most Scandinavians who are tall and skinny. We're shorter and stockier.'

The physical transformation has been of a piece with the rest of his journey.

Hovland will be the first from his country to play in the Ryder Cup, and during his appearance on Better Than I Found It, one of the podcast hosts, Mikkel Bjerch-Andresen, a fellow Norwegian, crowed that the country had eclipsed 100,000 golfers.

Working around the sport's novelty status, Hovland learned the swing from instruction he found on the internet. He hit balls in an expansive soccer field near his house.

Although he played soccer and did taekwondo, he began to focus on golf at 11 or 12. He found coaches, practiced hard, and shot 26 under to win the Norwegian Boys Championship at 16. Runner-up Kristian Johannessen, who now plays the European Tour, was five back.

Hovland's current instructor is Jeff Smith, a former professional poker player who was based in Las Vegas and now is the lead instructor at Spring Creek Ranch in Memphis, Tennessee. They talk mostly golf, but poker figures into their discussions, too.

'The No. 1 skill in poker is to process a lot of information in a short period of time, and he can do that,' Smith said. 'Viktor could become a world-class poker player in time.

'He's really analytical. A lot of people will ask questions and not really want to know the answer. He really wants the truth about why a thing works a certain way. Sometimes he'll ask a question he knows the answer to; he will keep you on your toes as an instructor.'

Hovland thinks of himself as a data guy who tries to use his passion to his advantage. 'The more you bring it back to science and have the math behind you,' he said, 'the better your decisions.'

As for his fiery blowup at THE NORTHERN TRUST, where he broke his putter in anger, he added, 'That's the first time I've ever broken a club, yes. It will never happen again.'

He knows anger doesn't aid in optimal decision-making.

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